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Saturday, October 22, 2011

Vinegar of the Thieves

Note: I have been corrected by a commenter that the Black Plague is not a virus, so I have edited this post. Sorry for the error. In fact, it's MY error, because Activist Post said it was a bacterium. Who knows if this vinegar works, but it sounds tasty anyway. I have fought off a bacterial infection with garlic recently - it's totally gone.

I saw this in a comment under an article at Activist Post about some stupid scientists reconstructing the Black Plague. This recipe allegedly protected a band of thieves against the Black Plague. I guess we should all make some just in case now that they seem so bent on creating the next pandemic. This recipe is for a whole gallon of the stuff. Since you take it a teaspoon at a time, and since things like this lose their oomph after a year or two, you might want to adjust your recipe according to your anticipated use. Or make enough to share.

Put herbs & garlic in gallon jar; top up with vinegar (it will take ~3 1/2 Qt. ) Cover jar opening with waxed paper and lid, or hold waxed paper in place with tight rubber band. (Vinegar fumes may otherwise corrode metal lid.) Let steep for 6-8 weeks, stirring once a week with a wooden spoon. Pour through strainer into large non-metal bowl or pot. Using non-metal ladle and funnel, pour into brown, green or cobalt bottles. (Well-washed olive oil bottles work well.) Store in a cool place, root cellar, or fridge.

There are several versions of Thieves Vinegar. The above recipe is pleasant to take and can be effective for symptoms of cold, fever and flu, or to have on hand in the event of scarier scenarios. The aromatic vinegar can be taken daily as a tonic and preventative, or more frequently after onset of illness. Take 1 tsp Thieves Vinegar and 1 tsp honey in a glass of water first thing in the morning (or, use 1 tsp maple syrup, which dissolves more readily.) Children could be given 1/4 - 1/2 tsp Thieves Vinegar in a glass or baby bottle of juice.

"Thieves" helps restore and maintain healthy digestion and elimination, and can help protect travelers from the tiresome, lingering infections now so common after plane flights.

Remember your stash of Thieves Vinegar if you wake, with things going bump in the night on the health front. Make your way to the kitchen; have some in juice or water, and tuck yourself, or a fretful child, back into bed.

2 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Three things:

1. Bubonic plague is caused by the bacteria Yersinia pestis, not a virus, as the article states. If the article you linked to got a basic fact like that wrong, I wonder what else they're misinformed about.

2. Researchers did not "reconstruct the black plague virus." They took an old sample containing the dead bacteria and compared it to modern bubonic plague bacteria to see if the Black Plague was caused by the same pathogen. They found that it is almost identical to the modern strain of plague bacteria.

3. There is no reason for anybody to try to reconstruct or recreate Yersinia pestis because it has always been alive and well all over the world; it never really died out. It is carried by rodents in the United States and throughout the world, and it occasionally gets passed to a human through flea bites. The U.S. gets 10-20 cases a year, mostly in New Mexico and Arizona, and worldwide, there are a couple thousand cases a year.

One of the interesting conclusions from the research is that the pathogen that killed millions of people in an outbreak a few hundred years ago is almost identical to the modern strain that only infects a few thousand people every year, and it kills a much smaller percentage of those people today than it did before. Why is this? A few likely reasons include better sanitation (people didn't always know to wash their hands or cover their coughs because they thought diseases were caused by evil spirits and not germs), fewer plague-carrying rodents and fleas in our houses, fewer open sewers in modern cities, better nutrition and general health (so our immune systems can fight these infections off better), antibiotics and other medical support for people who do get infected.

Thanks for your comment. It was my error to call it a virus. I edited my post and then went to Activist Post to bother them about it and found they said it was a bacterium. My bad. (unless they also edited their article?)

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